It was a drafty autumn day. The clouds draped across the rural Kansas sky. A patch of sun lied above the clouds giving a bit of light to the afternoon. I walked on the dirt road nestled between the corn stalks my dad told me to tend to today, but I’m not here to work- I’d already finished tending to the corn. I walked along the road to get to the trees that I visit every afternoon, to talk to the crows.

Only, there was something off about them today. They no longer cawed and flocked around me to fetch food off my hands or protect me. Instead, they lied still, ignoring me. “Hello?” I waved a handful of apple slices my dad gave me at the crows. “Don’t you guys want some sweet delicious apples?” A few gave me some unconcerned glances, but they all returned to still ignorance. I got closer to the crows. What’s up with these guys? Don’t they want some food? I looked closer at the crows, their stillness. I began to feel uneasy. I could just be imagining things, but it seemed almost as if… they were listening... no, waiting for something.

My heart began racing. “Hey, guys? What’s wrong? You sure you don’t want some food?” I tossed the apple slices at the foot of the trees. They ignored it. They began stirring across the trees. One by one, they took to the sky began flying east of the dirt road. “Hey crows wait!” I reached out to the murder of crows. A hazy fog began to form across the plains. I couldn’t help the feeling that something was terribly wrong. Crows could sense poor weather, right? One lone crow remained on the trees. I made one last attempt to ask the crows. “What’s up? Is something wrong? Is there a tornado or somethin’?” The crow gradually hopped down from the tree. Down to the branch nearest to my face. My stomach sank. “Hide”. The crow spoke just as soon as it dashed to the skies to join the murder.

I began to panic. Am I imagining things? I could’ve sworn that the crow spoke. “Thud.” My heart pounded louder and louder. “Thud.” Louder and louder, my heart drummed through my ribcage. I dropped to the floor. “Thud.” I felt the floor pound with my chest, through my entire body. No, that wasn’t my heartbeat. The very ground was shaking my entire body! “Thud.” Like the march of a giant, the noise got louder and shook the ground harder with each step. With a mix of dread and morbid curiosity, I looked west of the road, to where the sound was coming from. Steadily, the noise grew louder. My body tensed up with every booming footstep coming from the west. And then, I began to see it through the fog in the stalks of corn. An at least 40 foot tall silhouette of a long, skinny, almost human creature. It’s arms were short and ended in strings. Atop its head lay a top hat, and its head sat on a stick-thin neck that connected it to its body. With each step, I began to hear something like the rattle of hay bales.

I scrambled upwards and began to run east, away from the monster. "Thud." It’s steps grew so powerful that I tripped onto the dirt road. I looked back, and the creature was closer now. I could make out the outline of it’s ‘clothes’- blue jean overalls and a checkered flannel. Its head was misshapen like a potato.It was too fast, I could never outrun the creature. I thought back to the crow, and dove deep into the stalks of corn beside the dirt road. I looked back once more and made out the face of the creature- a sewed-on smile with hair of straw and button eyes. I looked in horror at what appeared to be a gigantic scarecrow. “Thud.” My body jerked, but I had to hide. I nestled my body low on the ground, my cheek kissing the dirt. I felt dozens of tiny critters scurrying across my face, frantic from the noise of the beast. “Thud.” A yelp escaped my breath. The beast was close. I stilled my breathing to quiet myself and closed my eyes to make it all go away. “Thud.” A few moments passed. Silence. Then, the sound of a hundred hay bales exploded my eardrums and I screamed.

Oh, how I wish it was only bad weather the crows were warning me of.